Ryan Strome was the hero for Team Canada after Game 4 of the Canada-Russia Challenge in Halifax, NS, Tuesday. The Islanders forward scored in overtime following Canada's 4-2 victory, giving Team Canada the series win.

Team Canada beat the Russians 4-2 in Game 4 Tuesday evening. With the win, Canada tied the series at 2-2, forcing a 20-minute sudden death overtime following regulation.

Canada had a 20-8 edge in shots during the first period, but Russia's Andrei Sigarev led off the scoring at 14:23 of the opening frame. Less than two minutes later, the Canadians evened up the score on Lucas Lessio's tally. Jonathan Huberdeau and Strome assisted on Lessio's goal.

The Russians took another lead four minutes into the second on Albert Yarulin's power play marker. Once again, Canada countered, as Ty Rattie scored the tying and go-ahead goals midway through the period, giving Canada a 3-2 advantage going into the third stanza.

Jonathan Huberdeau gave the Canadians an insurance goal at 14:02 of the third, and Canada skated to a 4-2 victory.

With the series tied 2-2, the teams played a 20-minute overtime to decide a series winner. Strome fired a shot past Andrei Vasilevski at 4:02 of the extra period to clinch the series for Team Canada.

The 2012 Canada-Russia Challenge was played to mark the 40-year anniversary 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union, in which Canada went 4-3-1 during the eight-game tournament. The 2012 exhibition started last week in Yaroslavl, RUS, also paying tribute to the players, coaches and staff of the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv hockey team who perished in a plane crash last September.

Team Russia scored early in each period, setting the pace, and eventually won Game 3 in Halifax, NS by a 6-5 margin. With the win, Russia leads the four-game series 2-1.

Unlike in Games 1 and 2, both teams lit the lamp often in the first period. Andrei Sigarev got things going for Russia with a goal at 1:43 of the opening frame. Less than five minutes later, Vladimir Tkachev made it 2-0 on his first tally of the series. Islanders prospect Andrey Pedan earned an assist on the play.

The Canadians battled back, with Ryan Murphy scoring a power play goal at 8:49. Toward the end of the opening period, Ryan Murray followed up his own rebound for his first goal of the tournament, tying the score at 2-2.

Just seven seconds later, Russia went to the power play, and capitalized on the opportunity. Mikhail Naumenkov scored on the man advantage with just over a minute remaining, giving Russia a 3-2 lead heading into the first intermission.

The pace didn't slow down the rest of the night. The Russians were short handed early in the middle frame when Anton Zlobin beat Canada goaltender Laurent Broissoit to make it 4-2. The Canadians countered one minute later, when Islanders prospect Ryan Strome set up Sean Monahan for his second goal of the series. Strome now has two points (one goal, one assist) in the last two games.

Charles Hudon scored for Canada later in the period, and the teams went to the dressing room tied at 4-4.

But Russia went up 5-4 just one minute into the third stanza on Anton Slepyshev's goal. Canada tied it up again at 5-5 on Jonathan Huberdeau's power play marker at 5:43.

Russia took the lead for the fourth and final time on Sigarev's second goal of the game at 13:37. Albert Yarulin got the assist, and Russia held on to the 6-5 lead for the rest of the night, despite several chances for Canada to tie the contest.

The teams will stay in Halifax for the fourth and final game of the Canada-Russia Challenge on Tuesday, Aug. 14 at 7:00 ET.

Team Russia rebounded from a Game 1 loss, scoring three times in the second period, and three more in the third, taking Game 2 by a 6-3 margin in Yaroslavl.

The big highlight of the scoreless first period came at 14:10, when Canada forward Mark Scheifele took a five-minute major for kneeing and a game misconduct. Canada killed off the ensuing power play but played a man down the rest of the contest.

As in Game 1, the scoring opened up in the second period. Russia's Anton Zlobin scored a power play marker just 38 seconds into the middle frame. Three minutes later, Kirill Kapustin extended Russia's lead to 2-0 with an unassisted tally on the man advantage.

Canada countered less than three minutes later, when Ty Rattie converted a feed from Sean Monahan, making the score 2-1.

Kapustin gave Russia 3-1 lead later in the period with a shorthanded tally. Anton Slepyshev assisted on the goal.

The Canadians started a comeback seven minutes into the third period, when Morgan Rielly redirected Lukas Sutter's shot past Russian netminder Andrei Makarov. But just two minutes later, Russia countered on Maxim Shalunov's first goal of the series. Yaroslav Kosov picked up the lone assist.

Down three goals late in the game, Canada continued to battle, and Islanders prospect Ryan Strome scored his first goal of the tournament at 15:54, on an assist from Rattie.

With two minutes remaining, Shalunov put the game out of reach with an unassisted empty-net goal.

The rest of the series switches back to Canada, with Game 3 scheduled Monday, Aug. 13 at 7:00 p.m. at Halifax Metro Centre in Halifax, NS.

Canada defeated Russia 3-2 on Thursday in the first game of the Canada-Russia Challenge in Yaroslavl, RUS. Islanders prospects Ryan Strome and Griffin Reinhart dressed for Canada, while Adam Pelech was scratched. Andrey Pedan was in the lineup for Russia.

In the first period, Russia outshot Canada 9-4, but the teams were scoreless heading into the first intermission.

The play opened up in the second period, and the teams exchanged several scoring chances. Sean Monahan put Canada ahead 1-0 at 4:12 of the middle frame on a power play goal. Less than two minutes later, Jonathan Huberdeau recovered a turnover in the Russian zone, and set up Scott Harrington for his first tally of the tournament to make the score 2-0.

Just minutes later, Russia cut the deficit to 2-1 when Anton Slepyshev lit the lamp. Later in the period, the Canadians re-established their two-goal lead on Dougie Hamilton's unassisted power play goal.

Russia was granted a two-man advantage in the third period, and No. 1 overall draft pick Nail Yakupov scored at 14:00, making the score 3-2. Still down a goal late in the period, Russia pulled goaltender Andrei Vasilevski for an extra attacker, but was unable to tie the score.

The teams will go head-to-head for Game 2 of the series on Friday at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Starting Aug. 9, more than 50 of the top Canadian and Russian junior hockey players, including four New York Islanders prospects, will take part in the 2012 Canada-Russia Challenge. The tournament pays homage to the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the USSR, which saw top professional players in the NHL and Soviet Union square off in a classic eight-game battle.

The 2012 series starts with two games on Aug. 9-10 at Arena 2000 in Yaroslavl, RUS, and concludes with a pair of contests on August 13-14 at the Halifax Metro Centre in Halifax, NS.

Strome, who represented Canada at the 2012 World Junior Championships, expects the four-game exhibition to be the highlight of his summer.

“It's a huge honor being selected to play in this tournament,” Strome said. “I'm looking forward to another chance to represent Canada, especially in such a prestigious and historic event.”

Strome and co. were all born more than 20 years after the ’72 series, regarded in the hockey community as a turning point in the sport’s history. Back then, the teams played four games in Canada and four in Moscow over a 27-day span in September. While the Canadians were expected to dominate the series, the Soviet squad, made up of mostly players from the Red Army team, gave Canada all they could handle.

1972 Summit Series

Game

Date

Location

Score

1

Sep. 2

Montreal, QC

USSR 7
CAN 3

2

Sep. 4

Toronto, ON

CAN 4
USSR 1

3

Sep. 6

Winnipeg, MB

CAN 4
USSR 4

4

Sep. 8

Vancouver, BC

USSR 5
CAN 3

5

Sep. 22

Moscow, RUS

USSR 5
CAN 4

6

Sep. 24

Moscow, RUS

CAN 3
USSR 2

7

Sep. 26

Moscow, RUS

CAN 4
USSR 3

8

Sep. 28

Moscow, RUS

CAN 6
USSR 5

JP Parise, who played for the Islanders from 1975-78, remembers how he and the rest of the Canadian team underestimated the Russians, who were billed as “amateurs” leading into the series.

“I didn’t think they were going to be as good as they were,” Parise said. “But if you think about it, we were playing against the best hockey players in Russia. The Russians were so prepared for us. Everyone here thought that the big fat pro hockey players in America were just going to saw through the poor, amateur players from Russia. But we did not anticipate that they were going to be as good or that they would have so many outstanding hockey players.”

The Soviets cruised to a 7-3 win in Game 1 and went 2-1-1 in Canada before winning Game 5 in Moscow. While many Canadian fans remember the final games of the series largely because of questionable officiating in the home team’s favor, the Canadians found their backs to the wall with a seemingly impossible task at hand.

“We had to win the last three games in Moscow,” Parise said. “That was almost impossible. They made it tough for us. They selected their own officials and all that. In the sixth game, they had this official named Kompalla – and if you look at the game stats, the penalties were like 11 to 3, or some ungodly thing like that (Note: Canada had 31 penalty minutes, Russia had four), so we had to kill penalties for most of the game. Then when the eighth game was on the line, another game that we had to win, there was a Swedish official that was supposed to be doing the game. Somehow at game time, he was nowhere to be seen, and so that’s why they picked Kompalla to come back.”

In the eighth and final game, the Canadian squad was flagged for several penalties early on, and four minutes in, Parise was given a game misconduct after showing his frustration. The Soviets had the lead four separate times, including a 5-3 advantage going into the third period, but Canada tied the game late, and with 34 seconds left in regulation, Paul Henderson scored what turned out to be one of the most iconic goals in Canada’s history, giving the Canadians a 6-5 lead. Canada won the series with a 4-3-1 record.

While the 2012 series has fewer political undertones and features junior players in place of NHL stars, one thing worth noting is the knowledge the two teams have of one another. Five Russian players, including Pedan, played junior hockey in Canada last season, and eight have been drafted by NHL clubs. Strome has more of a scouting report on the Russian team than his ’72 counterparts did.

“The Russians always have a lot of skill and many of their players are making a name for themselves over there already,” Strome said. “This will be different competition from what we are used to, especially the first couple of games on the big ice surface in Russia. This should be a really great four games.”

Check NewYorkIslanders.com for game recaps and other coverage throughout the tournament.